HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIGI!

Today, January 29th, my Grandmother is 96 years young!!! NINETY-SIX!!!

She is unbelievable! And feisty! And incredibly healthy!

Can you imagine what she has seen in her 96 years on this earth? Seriously... think about everything she has been through, seen, experienced. It's mind boggling to me! In honor of my sweet & wonderful Grandmother, here is a list of major events that have occurred each year of her life:

1912 - Titanic sunk; New Mexico & Arizona were admitted as the 47th & 48th states of the US
1913 - The first known crossword puzzle appears in the New York World. (This is considered a major event if you know my Grandmother & her love of crossword puzzles!)
1914 - Her future husband was born, Granddaddy; WWI begins; Federal Reserve Bank of the US opens
1915 - Construction of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. begins
1916 - Woodrow Wilson is US President
1917 - USA enters WWI
1918 - WWI ends; Daylight Saving Time goes into effect
1919 - Treaty of Versailles is signed, "officially" ending the war; 18th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, prohibiting alcohol in the US
1920 - 19th Amendment to the US Constitution is ratified, allowing women the right to vote
1921 - First Miss American pageant held in Atlantic City
1922 - USSR declared; Reader's Digest debuts
1923 - Time Magazine published for first time; Walt Disney company is founded; Hollywood sign is erected
1924 - Lenin dies & is succeeded by Stalin; First Winter Olympics held in France
1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes Volume I of Mein Kampf
1926 - US troops land in Nicaragua; Calvin Coolidge is US President
1927 - Charles Lindbergh makes first solo, non-stop, trans-atlantic flight from New York to Paris; First trans-atlantic telephone call from New York to London; Ford produces the last Model T; Carving of Mount Rushmore begins
1928 - Herbert Hoover is elected US President; The first television is sold for $75
1929 - Stock Market crashes on Wall Street, beginning "The Great Depression"; First Academy Awards Ceremony held
1930 - The planet Pluto is discovered; Construction begins on The Hoover Dam & on The Empire State Building
1931 - "The Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes the US national anthem
1932 - Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to cross the Atlantic solo in a plane
1933 - Adolf Hitler becomes German Chancellor; Albert Einstein moves to US; Construction of Golden Gate Bridge begins
1934 - Alcatraz prison opens; Adolf Hitler becomes the "Fuhrer" of Germany
1935 - The board game Monopoly is released
1936 - She married the most wonderful man, my Granddaddy; Olympic Games held in Berlin; Hoover Dam is complete; First edition of LIFE Magazine is published
1937 - Golden Gate Bridge is complete
1938 - Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia; Orson Welles broadcasts his radio version of The War of the Worlds, creating widespread panic
1939 - Germany invades Poland, beginning WWII; Gone With the Wind premiers
1940 - Winston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister; Woody Woodpecker cartoon first appears
1941 - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, bringing the USA into WWII; Carving of Mount Rushmore completed
1942 - Japanese forces take Manila, Philippines; Bataan Death March occurs on April 9
1943 - Allies defeat Germans in North Africa; Jews launch anti-German uprising in Warsaw Ghetto
1944 - Grandmother's only son was born; Allies land in France in what is known as D-Day; US forces invade Philippines
1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Hitler dies; US bombs Hiroshima & Nagasaki, ending WWII
1946 - Grandmother's only daughter is born; The Philippines becomes independent from the USA; The bikini is first introduced
1947 - "A Streetcar Named Desire" opens on Broadway; Howdy Doody makes its TV debut
1948 - Mahatma Gandi is assassinated; Apartheid is introduced in South Africa
1949 - NATO is formed
1950 - Korean War begins; The Jack Benny Show makes its TV debut
1951 - UN headquarters opens in NYC; I Love Lucy makes its TV debut
1952 - US test first Hydrogen bomb
1953 - Stalin dies; Korean War ends
1954 - US Supreme Court rules against racial segregation in schools
1955 - First McDonald's restaurant opens
1956 - Elvis Presley ushers in rock and roll music with Heartbreak Hotel
1957 - Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite
1958 - USA creates NASA; USA launches its first satellite, Explorer 1
1959 - Fidel Castro becomes Prime Minister of Cuba; First Barbie doll introduced; Alaska & Hawaii admitted as US states; Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens & The Big Bopper are killed in a plane crash on "the day that music died"
1960 - FDA approves sale of birth control pill in USA; First successful kidney transplant performed
1961 - World Wildlife Fund is formed; Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba fails
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis; Johnny Carson debuts as host of The Tonight Show
1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr. makes his famous "I Have a Dream" speech; President Kennedy is assassinated
1964 - The Beatles make their first visit to the USA; Ford produces its first Mustang car
1965 - Vietnam War begins; Gateway Arch in St. Louis is completed
1966 - Grandmother's first granddaughter is born
1967 - First Super Bowl is played; Sesame Street debuts on TV; First Earth Day celebration
1968 - Grandmother's first grandson is born; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & Robert Kennedy are both assassinated
1969 - Grandmother's middle granddaughter is born; Neil Armstrong is first man to walk on the moon
1970 - The Beatles disband; Monday Night Football on ABC debuts
1971 - 26th Amendment of the US Constitution lowers the voting age to 18
1972 - J. Edgar Hoover dies; Terrorists kill 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics; Richard Nixon is US President; Goodyear Blimp flies for the first time
1973 - Burglars are caught at Watergate; Sydney Opera House opens in Australia
1974 - Richard Nixon resigns as US President
1975 - Altair introduces the first personal computer; Microsoft is founded
1976 - Apple Computer, Inc. is founded; Concorde makes first commercial flight
1977 - Grandmother's last 2 grandchildren are born; Elvis Presley dies; Scientists discover the planet Uranus has rings; Star Wars opens at theaters
1978 - First test tube baby born in Britain
1979 - Saddam Hussein becomes the president of Iraq; Sony introduces the Walkman; Garfield comic strip debuts
1980 - Start of Iran-Iraq War; Mt. Saint Helens erupts; John Lennon is assassinated
1981 - First launch of Space Shuttle; Ronald Reagan is US President; Prince Charles & Lady Diana marry
1982 - First artificial heart transplant
1983 - US forces invade Grenada; Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space
1984 - Miami Vice debuts on TV; Miss America Vanessa Williams resigns after her nude photos are discovered
1985 - First Blockbuster store opens in Dallas, TX; Calvin and Hobbes comic strip is published for the first time
1986 - Challenger Space Shuttle explodes on live TV; Oprah Winfrey show first airs on TV
1987 - Stock Market crashes on Black Monday
1988 - Iran-Iraq War ends
1989 - Berlin Wall falls; Ring around Neptune discovered
1990 - Nelson Mandela is released from prison; Hubble space telescope launched; Tim Berners-Lee invents "The Worldwide Web"
1991 - Operation Desert Storm begins (a.k.a. The Gulf War)
1992 - Los Angeles riots occur
1993 - Branch Davidian religious cult siege in Waco, TX; First World Trade Center bombing; Bill Clinton is US President
1994 - Nelson Mandela is elected President of South Africa; Rwandan genocide; NAFTA comes into effect
1995 - Oklahoma City terrorist bombing; OJ Simpson trial; The Million Man March occurs on Washington, D.C.
1996 - Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced; FBI arrests Unabomber
1997 - Princess Diana dies in car accident
1998 - Granddaddy meets Jesus on New Year's Day
1999 - Y2K scare, All computers are predicted to crash at the end of the year
2000 - George W. Bush narrowly wins 2000 Presidential Election
2001 - Enron files for bankruptcy; 9/11 terrorist attacks occur - Terrorists crash 4 airplanes in the US, 2 of which destroy the World Trade Center
2002 - DC snipers kill ten people
2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed over Texas as it re-enters the atmosphere; US captures Saddam Hussein
2004 - Martha Stewart goes to jail; A major earthquake in Asia results in a huge tsunami that kills atleast 290,000 the day after Christmas
2005 - Hurricane Katrina destroys the city of New Orleans; Saddam Hussein is put on trial
2006 - Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death
2007 - Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House
2008 - Grandmother turns 96!!

She is an absolutely amazing woman & I am so blessed that my kids & I have her strong genes!

Grandmother/Gigi, we love you so very much & we hope you had a wonderful 96th birthday! You are an inspiration!